I'm trying to think back on what my AOTYs were. Pretty sure they were Grizzly Bear, Besnard Lakes, Real Estate, and Swans. The victor for this year will likely be Tim Hecker or Bill Callahan, depending on which record reveals itself more on relistens in the next month and a half.

By the end of it, Vampy Weeks will probably be the highest overall rated album, which tells us all we need to know about 2013.

You act like the aggregate opinions of blogs and websites is all that matters when analyzing a whole year. 2013 may have been somewhat slight if you're talking about Pitchfork bands and their albums, but if you dug a little further it's been a fantastic year.

This year has, for me, been better than any since 2009 probably. That I could make my whole list just metal albums and be 1) completely fine with that decision and 2) have about 50 quality releases on there is just great.

I wasn't clear in what I meant. There was plenty of great music in 2013, just like there has been every year over the last decade or so as the old ways of the music business have crumbled and the internet has leveled barriers to entry. There's more good music than any of us could possibly consume or catalog. Additionally, we've all moved out of our own little cultural boxes, and stuff like genre and label seem almost quaint. It's an exciting time to be a music fan.

But . . . unlike other recent years past, there haven't been many (any?) albums that have brought the larger critical culture to acknowledge their singular excellence this year. Speaking personally, I can't think of a single album that I would throw out there as an instant classic that defined the year's conversation about music. There were "big" albums by important legacy artists, but it's hard to think of one of them that put itself out as the artist's best or most important work. So when I say there won't be a consensus this year, or that I'm disappointed that Modern Vampires will shake itself out as the overall top-rated album, I simply mean that the year lacked for a signature album.

And of course, whether having a "big" cultural moment album matters at all is itself a subjective judgment. For me, this has been the least-satisfying year for new music since 2005 or 2006.

2006 may be my favorite year for music in recent memory. It bore witness to my favorite album of all time, Ys, had fantastic releases from Sonic Youth, Mastodon, Decemberists, TV on the Radio, Belle and Sebastian, Justin Timberlake, Yo La Tengo, Man Man, The Thermals, Tim Hecker, Ghostface Killah and the Hold Steady as well as breakout albums from The Clipse, Liars, Grizzly Bear, Boris, The Knife, Man Man and T.I. Also, Scott Walker made his opus, AFX (Aphex Twin) made his first album-length release in years, Gnarls Barkley dropped Crazy on the world, Phoenix put out what might be their best album, Celtic Frost went out in grand fashion, J-Dilla's incredible Donuts came out, Ornette Coleman put out his best release in at least 20 years and Junior Boys brought the cool and swagger of a young Justin Timberlake

As long as the album that defined 2013 isn't Random Access Memories, I'm good.

I think it did, as far as Mitch was saying in regards to the album that shaped the conversation the most. I don't enjoy it, I don't find it to be an important artistic statement, but it almost acts a litmus test. I think a lot of big trends are in keeping with that album in a way. Over-produced, half heartedly retro, a huge focus on viral marketing, an overstuffed behemoth that has ambitions of narrative that ultimately were trivial, a fascination with "real instruments" to make synthetic music. You can find a lot of this stuff done to varying degrees on albums both mainstream and underground. I think there's a lot of people who consider this the "future of music," a kind of modern throwback to lost ideals or something. Then there's a lot of people that took at face value and just enjoyed it for a run of the mill pop album. And then of course those who dismiss it, ignore it, or act in counterpoint to it. It's kind of the artificial beacon of what 2013 meant for music, and I'm going to have a hard time finding common ground with people who fall into the first of those three categories I just made up. If any of that is coherent or relevant at all.

Patrick, I posted that with the very real understanding that Random Access Memories could have definitely been that album. I'm obviously in the 3rd category, though I do still understand being the 2nd category.

Originally Posted by RandyInHeaven

Devin - how does it feel to know that there are still more women in the world that would fuck me at this very moment than would fuck you?

It feels like a lifetime ago, but the only albums from that year I still regularly play are Boys and Girls in America, Fox Confessor Brings the Flood, The Greatest, and Cease to Begin, all of which are albums that don't particularly "sound" like the mid-00s. I liked the Crane Wife, but it was also where they started getting proggy and I started checking out. Return to Cookie Mountain is my favorite TVOTR.

Again, none of these years were ever "bad," just more or less memorable. There's not as much of that "time and place" factor that brings me back to 2005/06 for whatever reason.

Second category for me, Patrick, though I do admire some of the ideology behind it as well. And I suppose that it's because I'm a second category person, I can't fully embrace the idea of Random Access Memories being a Great Album -- too much of it is stuff that is too long or doesn't work, period. I would easily like it much more than I do if "Beyond" and "Motherboard" had simply been left off.

RAM is going to place in the top 5 of lists everywhere, if only because everyone will remember that it was released, that they made a huge fuss about defending it's glory, and will feel a bit too guilty to acknowledge that they totally stopped listening to it a few months ago.

I just didn't want to say it because I start to feel like a broken record.

It's been a spectacular year for noise/experimental stuff, free jazz, the whole reinvigorated "American Primitive" genre that William Tyler led the way with, etc., as well. Pretty much only underwhelming if you choose to look no further than the P4K/Stereogum surface.

RAM is going to place in the top 5 of lists everywhere, if only because everyone will remember that it was released, that they made a huge fuss about defending it's glory, and will feel a bit too guilty to acknowledge that they totally stopped listening to it a few months ago.

The new Tegan and Sara was terrible. Just saying. I understand they're desire to make a pop record but i feel like in doing that they destroyed everything that made me interested in them in the first place.